Rig Showcase Discussions

[esmea]

Description

This system has been continually built/upgraded from one system since the early 1990s. It has never been 100% new at any time, but it has always been 100% awesome.

Current:
System is now featuring a Ryzen 2700X.

Made the upgrade from AM3+ to AM4 on 08MAY2018.

Notes about the upgrade: This far into the planned upgrade, I had relaxed on a lot of things that I was holding out for. The RAM wasn't nearly what I was planning, but it wasn't too much of a compromise, either. I never would have touched Team brand if it wasn't for my recent experiences with the PC Building Simulator that I had been using to scratch my itch.

I reconfigured the case fans again for this upgrade, since I no longer had to sacrifice two of my Cougar fans to the CM212, and taking into mind the results of configuration testing from LTT regarding the PSU fan - being that exhaust out the bottom of a filtered case can aid greatly in filtering the air that the PSU is taking in. Combined with the significantly lower heat from the 2700X, the whole system is quieter and the air around it *feels* colder.
I've yet to run it through its paces, but I'm overall pleased with it so far.

Old info:
Currently running at stock clocks on lower voltage to keep thermals down, I've managed to get it up to 5.1GHz (unstable), with moderate stability at 5.0GHz (won't pass IBT AVX, but it does fine with benchmarks)

5.1GHz:

Back in December, I was working on GPU benchmarks, but my GPU gave up the ghost at stock speeds halfway through... I have to underclock it to nearly HD5870 specs just to stay in the OS. ASUS RMAed it, and upgraded it to a Strix R9 390X 8GB, assuring me that the memory problem in the R9290X-DC2OC would not carry over.

Overclock Season has unfortunately come to an end... but at least I now have solar panels on my roof - so I won't feel so bad when I push things during off-season.

Update 25MAY2016: Swapped out the stock Tt 200mm fans for BitFenix RED SpectrePro fans. I had to break out the Dremel and bandsaw to make them fit, but I'm very pleased with the results.

Update 09MAY2018: Motherboard replaced with ASUS Crosshair VII Hero (wi-fi), CPU replaced with Ryzen 2700X, RAM is Team Group T-Force Dark DDR4 2666 (CL15) 32GB (2x16GB), Boot storage is now Samsung 960 EVO M.2 500GB.

Build logs:

04APR2015 - Imgur album

Below: Pictures of the system as of 23rd of March, 2016

I really do miss the red variation of the Monoprice Headset.

For those wondering about the glass on the case - that's there to keep my cat from stepping on the power button... and to house my Nikola Tesla figurine.

New Red LED fans:

Now I just need to 3D print new HDD trays in Red

Specifications

CPU	Ryzen 2700X (Formerly FX-9370)
Cooler	AMD Wraith Prism (Formerly CoolerMaster Hyper 212Evo)
Motherboard	ASUS Crosshair VII Hero (wi-fi) (Formerly ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z)
Memory	32GB (2x16GB) Team Group T-Force Dark DDR4 2666 CL15 (Formerly 16GB (2x8GB) Radeon Gamer 2133MHz)
Graphics	ASUS Strix R9 390X-8GB
Disc Drive 1	Samsung 960 EVO M.2 500GB (Formerly Samsung 840 PRO)
Disc Drive 2	Hitachi 2TB
Disc Drive 3	Western Digital Black 4TB
PSU	SeaSonic SS-1050XP3 1050W 80Plus Platinum
Case	Thermaltake Core V71
Monitor	2x Monoprice 27" WQHD 2560x1440p AHVA 144Hz Freesync (Formerly Samsung Syncmaster T240HD)
Keyboard	Logitech G510s
Mouse	Logitech G903 w/ Lightspeed Pad (Formerly G700s)

Next Planned Upgrade

CPU	TBA
Cooling	TBA
Motherboard	TBA
Memory	TBA (prices suck)
Graphics	Waiting for Navi?
OS Drive	TBA
Storage Drive 2	Keeping the Hitachi 2TB from previous, but this drive's days are numbered...
Storage Drive 3	Keeping the WD Black 4TB from previous.
PSU	Keeping the SeaSonic 1050W Platinum.
Case	Keeping the Thermaltake Core V71.
Monitor	Maybe a 3rd one... who knows?
Keyboard	Keeping my Logitech G510s until it breaks.
Mouse	I don't think it gets any better than what I have...
VR	HTC Vive, of course.

Message was edited on 24OCT2015 by: Amy Johnson

Message was edited on 10DEC2015 by: Amy Johnson

Message was edited on 21DEC2015 by: Amy Johnson

Message was edited on 23MAR2016 by: Amy Johnson

Message was edited on 25MAY2016 by: Amy Johnson

Message was edited on 18OCT2018 by: Amy Johnson

[duramax08]

Platinum PSU rating, NICE! Why did you go to aircooling from your H80i? Did the pump bite the dust?

[esmea]

I've been adamant about having 80+ PSUs for many years, convinced that the efficiency translated into lower temps (energy is lost as heat) and lower power bills. My power bill history suggests this may have proven to be a wise investment. I should have bought a socket-meter, but that will just have to remain a regret.

The H80i was underperforming. The CPU was frequently reaching shutdown temperatures with stock clocks.

I had attempted to RMA it with Corsair, but their solution was only to suggest running a different version of CorsairLink (didn't work).

Other users on the ROG forums had suggested that the H80i was inferior to the Hyper212Evo, an idea that I had been considering. Upon switching, temperatures were far more stable and never peaked above 61°C.

[nhtgvn]

really nice rig and nice work with the cables, looks very organized (one thing i cant do for life of me )

[duramax08]

Yeah that sucks. I guess that thin of a radiator would do that for a 220W CPU. I too also have a CM EVO 212 cooling my 8350. Works really well. Doing a push/pull system with fans, I can max out at 44 degrees Celsius.

[esmea]

Looks like I will need to consider a new solution somewhat soon. The CM Hyper 212 Evo doesn't seem to be doing much better (it's better, but not much).

I have to postpone major compute tasks until night time, when I can open the window and have cold(er) air going directly to the case. Even then, it's still hitting at least 60°C. Why this wasn't a problem during the summer when I was constantly stress-testing the CPU is beyond me.

[esmea]

Well, I finally replaced the failing 9370 (IMC suspected of going bad) with a FX-8350. The new one is performing splendidly - no video playback stuttering whatsoever. I'll edit the original post to reflect some new things I've pushed it to do.

[esmea]

As reported in the edited main post: Graphics Unit failed (bad Elpidia chips?)... ASUS gave up on it, and upgraded it to the far more reliable Strix R9 390X. Haven't had any problems since (except that I kept filling up the 16GB of RAM that I had installed for OC Season)

Can't wait for Zen!

[thewalrus]

It warms my heart when I see systems with quality PSUs and motherboards!

Highly overclocked FX-8xxx chips and all FX-9xxx chips really do need 240mm+ liquid cooling in my opinion. The 212 Evo is a nice little cooler but it's indeed not made to cool monsters like the OCd 8350 can be. If you're planning on going custom liquid in the future I'd definitely recommend going with a D5 pump, be it standalone or res-combo. D5s really are way quieter overall than DDCs. EK for example makes some wonderful D5 pump-res combos that look very clean and cool.

[esmea]

Added content to original post: new Red 200mm fans installed. All fans in the system are now fluid-dynamic bearing (Never settle!)